Education
University of Melbourne. Melbourne Law School. Street Catherine"s School.
University of Melbourne. Melbourne Law School. Street Catherine"s School.
She is the first female and first Jewish holder of the office. She was formerly a judge of the Family Court of Australia from 1995 to 2013. Dessau was appointed to the American Federation of Labor-Congress Commission in November 2007.
A supporter of the Essendon Football Club, Dessau started and was the inaugural chair of the Essendon Women"s Network in 1997, which for more than a decade has claimed a strong hold in the grand final week calendar.
She was appointed to the board of the Melbourne Festival, of which she became President in 2014. Her father, John Dessau, arrived in Melbourne from Poland in 1929.
At first he took on factory work, but later he became a businessman.
Dessau was recognised for her service to the judiciary, particularly in the area of family law policy and practice, and to the community, when in 2010 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia. Dessau was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1994, and travelled to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to study strategies employed to reduce delay within the court system.
